Sprayer for spraying a great volume of liquid through a wide angle with a low pressure

ABSTRACT

This invention provides a sprayer featured by a specific arrangement of a nozzle assembly having a diffusing face which is divergent and curved from the proximal end toward the upper inside portion, whereby the liquid supplied into said nozzle is spread out in the form of a film along said diffusing face and dispersed out in atomized form from the widened edge of the nozzle. Thus, according to the sprayer of the present invention, a great volume of liquid can be sprayed through a wide angle with a low pressure.

United States Patent [191 Akabane et a].

[11] 3,826,430 1 July 30, 1974 1 SPRAYER FOR SPRAYING A GREAT VOLUME OF LIQUID THROUGH A WIDE ANGLE WITH A LOW PRESSURE [75] Inventors: Katsumi Akabane; Shogo Otsuka,

'both of Kyoto, Japan [73] Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Saneh, Kyoto,

Japan [22] Filed: June 11, 1973 [21] Appl. No.: 368.590

[52] US. Cl 239/523, 239/552, 239/587 [51] Int. Cl B05b 1/26 [58] Field of Search 239/518-524,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 426,512 4/1890 Parker 239/520 X 1,741.557 12/1929 Coles 239/521 X 3,029,030 4/1962 Dey, Sr. 239/520 3,503,554 3/1970 Clifton 239/550 X 3,563,471 2/1971 Watkin 239/550 X Primary Examiner-M. Henson Wood, Jr. Assistant Examiner-John .1. Love Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Browdy and Neimark l 57] ABSTRACT This invention provides a sprayer featured by a spc cific arrangement ofa nozzle assembly having a diffusing face which is divergent and curved from the proximal end toward the upper inside portion, whereby the liquid supplied into said nozzle is spread out in the form of a film along said diffusing face and dispersed out in atomized form from the widened edge of the nozzle. Thus, according to the sprayer of the present invention, a great volume of liquid can be sprayed through a wide angle with a low pressure.

- 4 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures SPRAYER FOR SPRAYING A GREAT VOLUME OF LIQUID THROUGH A WIDE ANGLE WITH A LOW PRESSURE This invention relates to a sprayer for spraying liquid agricultural chemicals such as herbicides, insecticides, fertilizer or the like, or water.

In this type of spraying devices, a volute nozzle is popularly used. This volute nozzle comprises a nozzle head formed with a spout or jet and a core having a helical groove and fitted in said nozzle head so as to form a vortex chamber between said core and nozzle, and the pressured liquid is supplied by a pump into said vortex chamber where said liquid is given a whirling motion and jetted out from said spout such that said liquid will be atomized and sprayed. However, this volute nozzle is incapable of performing wide angle spraying and also the liquid supplied must be highly pressurized and hence it is essentially required to pressurize the liquid with a pump. Further, the nozzle construction is complicated and can be easily damaged by wear or other causes.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a novel sprayer nozzle which is free of said defects of the conventional devices.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a sprayer nozzle which is capable of performing desired spraying of liquid over a very wide angle, said nozzle having a diverging diffusing face which is curved from the proximal end toward the upper inside portion, whereby the liquid supplied, while passing said nozzle, is spread out in the form of a film along said diffusing face and scattered out from the widened edge of the nozzle so that said liquid will be atomized and sprayed over a wide area.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a sprayer nozzle arranged such that the liquid supplied is spread out in the form of'a film while passing along the diffusing face and dispersed out from the widened open edge of the nozzle, so that there is no need of particularly pressurizing the liquid to be supplied and hence satisfactory water spraying can be practiced by connecting the sprayer directly to a faucet of service water, for instance.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a sprayer nozzle with a very simple mechanism in which a mounting support block is formed at the proximal end of the nozzle body and a recess contiguous to the diffusing face is provided in the side wall of said support block, said support block being fixed in a hole formed in a liquid-passing member so as to form a liquid supply passage by said recess and the inner wall of said mounting hole.

The above-said and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from a consideration of the following detailed description of the invention when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side view of the principal parts of a sprayer embodying the present invention, with the liquid passing member shown in section;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the sprayer shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a bottom view of the nozzle body portion in the sprayer according to the present invention shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a side view of a modified form of the nozzle assembly in a sprayer according to the present invention; and

FIG. 5 is a side view of still another modified form of nozzle assembly where two diffusing faces are provided.

In the drawings throughout, the nozzle assembly according to the present invention is designated generally by reference numeral 10. The nozzle assembly 10 com prises a diffusing face 11 for diffusing the liquid supplied and a mounting support block 12 for fixing the nozzle assembly 10 in position, and these are made of synthetic resin such as polypropylene, polyethylene, vinyl chloride or the like and formed integral with each other. The diffusing face 11 is curved from the proximal end of the nozzle assembly 10 toward the upper inside portion thereof, describing substantially a parabola as shown, and it is also divergent or gradually widened from said proximal end toward the top end of the nozzle. This'diffusing face 11 may be provided in one di rection alone as shown in FIG. 4 or in two directions as shown in FIG. 5, or, if desired, may be provided in multiple directions. It may bealso shaped in the form of an inverted cone as shown in FIG. 1. In case the diffusing faces 11 are provided in multiple directions, the liquid is sprayed in multiple directions.

The mounting support block 12 is provided at the proximal end of the nozzle assembly 10 and fitted in a mounting hole 21 in a liquid passing member 20 for fixing the nozzle assembly 10 in position. For this end, said support block 12 has a sectional shape that conforms to the shape of said mounting hole 21. If said support block 12 is formed circular in sectional shape, the direction of the nozzle jet, that is, the spraying direction can be changed by changing the fixed position of the nozzle assembly 10 by turning it. Also, this support block 12 may be formed by extending the base portion of the nozzle assembly 10 as shown in FIG. I, or a stepped portion may be provided at its base as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. The fixing of said support block 12 in its mounting hole 21 may be effected by simple fitting as shown in FIG. 5. In case of effecting said fixing by fitting means, it is convenient to provide a taper as in a usual plug.

Reference numeral 14 indicates a guide portion for facilitating the fitting of the support block 12 in the mounting hole 21. Such portion may be provided as occasion demands, by for instance tapering the bottom portion of the support block 12.

Reference numeral 15 denotes a detent provided at the bottom of the support block 12 for preventing chance removal of the support block 12 fixed in the mounting hole 21. At the top of the support block 12 is provided a stopper 16 adapted to define the fixed position of said block relative to the mounting hole 21. In the side wall of said support block 12 is provided a recess 17 which extends vertically through said side wall. Said recess 17 is designed such that its top end will continue to the proximal end of the diffusing face 11 and that its bottom end will open into the inside of the liquid passing member 20 when the support block 12 has been fixed in the mounting hole 21 formed in said member 20, so as to constitute a liquid supply passage (0) by said recess 17 and the inner wall of said mounting hole 21.

Reference numeral 18 shows an indication mark which is provided on the top surface of the nozzle assembly for indicating the direction in which the liquid is diffused.

The liquid passing member 20 may be a movable liquid spray pipe usually used in spraying machines or a fixed spray pipe used generally in a vinyl house or an orchard for spraying or sprinkling liquid. The mounting hole 21 may be provided by directly perforating the liquid passing member 20 at its middle or end part or any other part where a nozzle is usually mounted. Also, as shown in FIG. 1, a mounting member 22 may be provided in the spray pipe, with a mounting drum portion 23 for mounting the nozzle assembly 10 being separately provided to allow detachment of the nozzle assembly as so desired. Reference numeral 24 indicates a thread provided on said mounting drum portion 23 for effecting threaded engagement.

The sprayer unit according to the present invention is constructed as described above, so that if the support block 13 of the nozzle assembly 10 is fitted and fixed in the mounting hole 21 in the liquid passing member 20, a liquid passage (a) is formed by the recess 17 in the side wall of said support'block l2 and the inner wall of said mounting hole 21. Therefore, if a liquid such as water, liquid fertilizer, liquid agricultural chemical or such is supplied into said member 20, said liquid is passed through said passage (a) to the diffusing face 1 1 and while passing along said diffusing face 11, said liquid is spread out in the form of a film and scattered out from the widened open end of the nozzle, and thus said liquid is atomized and sprayed.

Thus, according to the sprayer mechanism of the present invention, since the liquid is spread out in the form of a film by the diffusing face and then scattered out from the widened edge of the nozzle to thereby atomize said liquid, there is no need of highly pressurizing the liquid to be supplied and hence a great quantity of liquid can be effectively sprayed with low pressure. The present device can therefore produce excellent effect when used as a sprinkler or sprayer for fertilization, disinfection, etc.

Further, according to the sprayer of the present invention, since the diffusing face for diffusing the liquid is divergent toward the edge, it is possible to easily widen the angle of spray, thus realizing a wide-angle spraying operation.

Still further, according to the present invention, since the liquid supply passage can be constituted very easily by merely mounting the nozzle assembly in position, the entire structure of the apparatus is simplified and also the number of parts required is minimized, thus allowing manufacture of the sprayers on a mass production scale and at low cost.

What is claimed is:

1. A sprayer for providing a wide angle atomized spray from a liquid passing member having a mounting hole therein comprising:

a nozzle having a diffusing face thereon which is divergent and curved in a concave manner from the proximal end toward the upper inside portion;

a mounting block fitted to engage the mounting hole, said mounting block being formed integrally with the proximal end of said nozzle;

said mounting block having a side wall with a recess therein adjacent the wall of the mounting hole, said recess being continuously formed with said diffusing face of said nozzle thereby to permit a film of liquid to pass from the liquid supply means through the mounting hole at said recess and to spread out on said diffusing face and then to scatter out over a wide area.

2. The sprayer as defined in claim 1 wherein said nozzle is provided with two or more diffusing faces and said mounting block is provided with a corresponding number of recesses continuously formed with said respective diffusing faces 50- that the liquid can be sprayed in multiple directions.

3. The sprayer as defined in claim 1, wherein said mounting block is shaped circular in sectional form so that said mounting block can be turned in and relative to the mounting hole in the liquid passing member so as to allow optional adjustment of the spraying direction.

4. The sprayer as defined in claim 1, wherein said mounting block is provided with a detent at a lower part thereof to thereby secure the fixing in the mounting hole in the liquid passing member. 

1. A sprayer for providing a wide angle atomized spray from a liquid passing member having a mounting hole therein comprising: a nozzle having a diffusing face thereon which is divergent and curved in a concave manner from the proximal end toward the upper inside portion; a mounting block fitted to engage the mounting hole, said mounting block being formed integrally with the proximal end of said nozzle; said mounting block having a side wall with a recess therein adjacent the wall of the mounting hole, said recess being continuously formed with said diffusing face of said nozzle thereby to permit a film of liquid to pass from the liquid supply means through the mounting hole at said recess and to spread out on said diffusing face and then to scatter out over a wide area.
 2. The sprayer as defined in claim 1 wherein said nozzle is provided with two or more diffusing faces and said mounting block is provided with a corresponding number of recesses continuously formed with said respective diffusing faces so that the liquid can be sprayed in multiple directions.
 3. The sprayer as defined in claim 1, wherein said mounting block is shaped circular in sectional form so that said mounting block can be turned in and relative to the mounting hole in the liquid passing member so as to allow optional adjustment of the spraying direction.
 4. The sprayer as defined in claim 1, wherein said mounting block is provided with a detent at a lower part thereof to thereby secure the fixing in the mounting hole in the liquid passing member. 